Lunchtime Looks at Art Museum of WVU

Description

Dr. Amy Hirshman is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at West Virginia University. She specializes in ancient western Mesoamerican archaeology and teaches courses on archeology, cultural anthropology, and material culture. Her Lunchtime Looks presentation will focus on the exhibition "Cut Up/Cut Out" which is on display from October 12th through December 8th. Artists in the exhibition use cutting and piercing practices to create their works of art. Dr. Hirshman will explore how these transformations of objects-which include oil drums, books, leaves, receipt paper rolls, and maps-change the objects’ “biographies.” These examples of material culture are all manipulated in ways that divorce them from their original uses. Dr. Hirshman will address the challenges that such artistic transformations pose for archeologists and those who look at a society’s artifacts to understand more about them.

Prior to the talk, all are invited to bring a brown-bag lunch to the Museum Education Center Grand Hall. The presentation will commence at 12:20 in the McGee gallery of the Art Museum of WVU. The session will end by 1:00 p.m., for those who need to get back to their offices.